A very high proportion of the cost of fruit results from the cost of harvesting. Hand-picking of fruit is extremely expensive, with the result that mechanical devices for picking have been developed. Such devices generally work by shaking the tree to cause the fruit to fall. If the fruit is tighly bound to the tree, this operation is inefficient and may cause severe damage to the tree, often reducing the yield the following year.
There is thus a need for the use of chemical fruit loosening, or abscission, agents. Such agents are plant growth regulants which reduce the strength of attachment of the fruit to the tree, and thus aid mechanical harvesting.